Tuesday, July 27, 2010

"Do Work..."

My friend Christine and I planned a trip to California for Friday, July 23 to Sunday, July 25 to use our one-day pass to Disneyland. We both volunteered with Habitat for Humanity back in January with Disney's Give a Day, Get a Day program. We decided to stay two nights in CA, knowing that we would want to stay at Disneyland for as long as possible on Saturday - so we needed to be well rested.

After some delays and minor mishaps, we were finally on the road from Las Vegas to Anaheim at about 5:00 on Friday evening... or a few minutes after. Traffic was okay - could have been better, could have worse.

Some of the highlights of the road trip include:

- A game of Railroad: Movie Titles. Some real....some made up...

- A truck on fire. CRAZY!

- Google Maps being a life saver

- Vowing to not stop...with the exception of a quick bite to eat in Baker for one of us...

- Scanning the radio for non-existent stations

- Garth Brooks: Double Live

We made it to our hotel around 9:30 or so on Friday night. We were a little skeptical about the joint when we first got there, but our fears soon subsided. After the drive, I was beat! And I was the passenger! We wanted to be up and around super early Saturday morning so I knew I needed to go to bed somewhat early. I got up at 4:45 the next morning to get in my training run. The "fitness center" (which consisted of two treadmills and a stationary bike) was empty. And dark. I ran 2.5 miles on the treadmill before the excitement of the day kicked in and I decided to end a little early in order to get a head start on the fun-filled activities! We both got ready in record time (I was surprised to see Christine awake and putting on her make up already when I got back to the room.) We headed downstairs at about 7:00 to get some breakfast before we took off. We ate quickly and then took off! We had a schedule to stick to.

We got to Disneyland pretty quickly and were parked and with tickets in hand by 8:00 when the park opened!! There were virtually no lines for the first 3 hours we were there but then it really picked up around noon. We waited in line for some rides and got Fast Passes for Indiana Jones and for Big Thunder Railroad but all the other rides were rather easy to get on to. Overall, it was a really good day and we had so much fun. And ate A LOT!

Some of the highlights of the Day at Disneyland include:

- Having a handy iPhone App to plan the whole day!

- Being a little picture crazy

- Autograph book. Enough said.

- Christine having a Character Radar

- Having a plan for snacks and meals and what we were going to have

- On the hunt for a Jessie shirt for what seemed like 6 hours

- Meeting the Princesses and being embarrassed to be the oldest ones there...and being without children

- Forgetting the HoB gift certificate and then trying to hunt down a printer - which didn't happen

- Attracting those who are deaf - it never fails

- Prime seating for the parade

- And then subsequently dancing in the parade!

- Dinner at the Plaza Inn

- The Fantasmic! show and the rude people who insisted on standing in front of us

- A fictional case of Tuberculosis

- Me getting stabbed by a light saber that a little girl was wielding

- "She STABBBBBED meeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!", "You say sorry lady!!!!!!!"

- Tram ride to the parking garage - good thing I have excellent navigational skills or else we never would have found the car

- Getting back to the hotel around 1:30 a.m.

- A MAGICAL day!

We both slept like rocks that night and woke up on Sunday morning at around 7:00. We didn't have a solid plan as to what we were going to the day that day, and before we knew it we decided to go to Knott's Berry Farm! Again, we were dressed and ready to go (wearing only mascara, ha) in a fairly fast amount of time. We packed up, checked out, and then ate breakfast downstairs before hopping into the car and moving on to Knott's. We made a quick stop (this is me NOT mentioning the mishap with the curb...) at CVS for water and I won $3.00 on a scratch ticket! Ha! Good thing the park wasn't too far away. They opened at 10:00 and we were there right on time. We rode a few roller coasters but then our fun had to subside after we both thought we'd toss our cookies on a ride called Boomerang. We decided to take a break and eat lunch where, in a complete coincidence, our waiter at Johnny Rocket's turned out to be the actor who played Aladdin at Disneyland!! HA!! We picked his brain about being a character there and he provided us with some cold waters, two delicious burgers, a helping of fries, and a bunch of laughs. Also, he said he would get us in "V.I.P. style" for the Aladdin show if we mentioned him to the cast. Pretty funny. After lunch, we thought it would be best to let our food settle so we shopped and walked around from then on. After a few purchases and a stop into the candy shoppe for some fudge, it was time to head out and get on the road for home. Still, it was another great day of theme park fun! Hence the phrase, do work, because we tore both of those parks UP!

Highlights of the day at Knott's Berry Farm include:

- An early morning fresh start!

- "Front or f&*! it!"

- Mapping out the park route with the trusty Sharpie

- Pony Expresssss

- Backwards is NOT better

- Me having a mini panic attack for the first time in my coaster career

- Hunting for Christmas presents - quill pen included

- Getting a sweet deal on fudge!

- Passing on the funnel cake

- Snoopy drawn in ketchup - which didn't really look like Snoopy at all

- Just needing to "fill the tank"

- Old Time photos

- Corsets and not being able to breath

- "...Oh, you'll be glad!"

- Another awesome day!

We left Knott's at about 4:45 and painstakingly made our way to the route home, with a few (12) detours. With a tank full of gas, a bottle of Smart Water and a box of fudge we finally were on the (right) road to Las Vegas. The trip only took 3 hours! No speeding involved!! Mind you, we didn't stop the entire way. We were safely back at home at around 9:00 with an unforgettable trip behind us!

Highlights of the drive back to Las Vegas include:

- Railroad: Cities

- Y and E are impossible!!

- Playing Scan

- Me winning within about 7 minutes

- A Goblin head on the front of a Cadillac

- Almost peeing our pants from State Line on!

It was so great to get out of town, even it was for only a few days. We had such a good time and I am so happy to have such an awesome friend like Christine!